Our gut (and sinus) microbiomes are filled with many different species of bacteria that modulateour gene expression1.

That means that our bacteria determine whether we develop disease, to a large extent.

Our bacteria are also in charge of synthesizing neurotransmitters, as well as, things that can go on to be converted into neurotransmitters2.

For instance, GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) is a calming neurotransmitter. It’s made from butyric acid.

Butyric acid is made from butyrate.

Butyrate is found in butter. That’s actually where butter got its name.

Butyrate is one of 3 short-chain fatty acids (SCFA’s) that have been the focus of several research studies.

One study found that autistic boys had much higher proportions of propionate than any other SCFA. We don’t exactly understand why that is, yet, but it’s an important finding3.

SCFA’s are not only used to make neurotransmitters, but also used by the cells of your colon (colonocytes) as fuel. Without butyrate, colon cells start to die4.

Moreover, your gut bacteria have the ability to manufacture SCFA’s like butyrate through fermentation of certain nutrients in the colon.

… well, some of your gut bacteria, at least.

That’s the importance of having the RIGHT gut bacteria.

What else?

Depending on the types of gut bacteria present in your colon, your gut either efficiently breaks down a compound found in food called histamineor it doesn’t.

What’s more is that gut bacteria can also produce histamine during the process of respiration… that means that as your bacteria carry out their basic functions needed for life, they produce histamine the way we produce carbon monoxide and other waste products5.

That leads me to one of The Top 3 Hidden Gut Issues (in no specific order).

So, let’s get down to business…

Histamine Intolerance

This can be a result of an imbalance of bacteria in the gut, and it can be compounded by genetic factors.

Diamine Oxidase (DAO) is an enzyme coded for by the DAO gene, which breaks down histamine from food6.

Histamine containing foods include:

Avocado

Spinach

Cheese

Alcohol

Fermented foods

Natto

Sauerkraut

Kim chi

… and others

Shellfish

Smoked meats

Cashews

Walnuts

Chocolate

Chickpeas

Vinegar

There are also foods that are considered histamine “liberators” that help to release histamine from other foods, even if they are low in histamine, themselves.

That list includes:

Most citrus fruits

Papaya

Beans

Tomatoes

Wheat germ

Some additives like sulfites (found in wine), nitrates, and glutamate (think, MSG)

What are the symptoms of a histamine reaction to food?

The symptoms are very similar to an allergic reaction, because an allergic reaction also involves histamine.

However, with histamine intolerance, you’re not actually allergic to the food.

Symptoms may include:

Flushing, commonly cheeks, neck, and chest (sometimes ears and lips)

Runny nose

Loose stools and diarrhea

“bubbly” feeling in your intestines

Racing heart

Anxiety

Migraines

Headache

Fatigue

Irregular menstrual cycle

Nausea

Vomiting

Those are the big ones, at least.

Toxins (especially biotoxins)

When I discovered how commonly searched the term “diarrhea” (Spanish pronunciation) was, my first thought was “biotoxin illness”.

If you have the kind of diarrhea that is unrelenting and maybe gets worse after a high-fat meal, your body may be responding to the need to flush biotoxins from your system.

Biotoxins are poisonous substances produced by living organisms.

Examples:

Mycotoxins, produced by mold

Toxins produced by Lyme and co-infections

Pfiesteria, produced by toxic algae

Ciguatera, also produced by toxic algae

Toxins produced by red tide*

… and others

I ear-marked red tide because it’s a HUGE issue in the gulf of Florida, right now, where I live.

You can turn on the news and every 15 minutes red tide and its potential health effects are a headline.

The funny thing (it’s not funny at all) is that the news correspondents always make mention that researchers are receiving new grant money to research the extent of the health effects of red tide on humans.

The reason that’s of note is that most people think red tide only affects the respiratory system, and only temporarily.

Some mycotoxins produced by mold are considered the MOST carcinogenic substances known to main (that means that cause cancer)

You can’t kill a mycotoxin (or any biotoxin, for that matter)

When building supplies and building codes began to change in the 1970’s to reflect an interest in environmental concerns, buildings became more easily afflicted by mold-growth.

The types of building materials used, now, are made using chemicals that are supposed to by fungicides9.

Buildings are also made to be “tighter” so that less outside air gets in; therefore, the building is more energy efficient.

When you mess with manufactured fungicides, just like with pesticides and antibiotics, all you’re doing is accelerating the evolution of the fungus and bacteria to be more virulent.

Think, antibiotic resistant staph (MRSA and MARCoNS).

Yep. That happens with mold growing on these building materials.

Furthermore, when you decrease airflow inside you create a sterile environment void of beneficial species of microbes that can keep the harmful molds and bacteria in check… just like with your gut microbiome.

In fact, in rodent studies, when mice have the GI tract sterilized, they become more susceptible to obesity and disease10.

The research explains this phenomenon is a result of pathogenic species of bacteria colonizing the colon in absence of other more beneficial types of bacteria balancing them out.

Long story short, that happens in your home, too.

Remember the China Study?

Albeit poorly done, this “study” (if you can call it that) showed that Aflatoxin from moldy peanuts was causing cancer among a population in China11.

If you Google “most carcinogenic substance known” the result is pages and pages of “aflatoxin” hits.

Though aflatoxin is more commonly found in the food supply than growing in your home, there are other extremely poisonous mycotoxins produced by other types of mold, such as “black mold” or stachybotrys that love to grow inside.

Why is it such a problem? Just kill the mold, right?

Remember how I said you can’t kill mycotoxins?

Well… killing the mold doesn’t kill the actual problem, because the problem isn’t the mold, it’s the mycotoxins it produces and those can’t be killed.

In fact, when you kill mold, the mold releases even more mycotoxins into the environment that it did during its normal living process (remember histamine-producing gut bacteria… like that, kind of).

You have to think of mycotoxins kind of like how we think of radiation. You can’t see them, you can’t smell them, you need special tools to detect them, and you can just throw some bleach on it an expect anything good to happen.

Mind you, this doesn’t happen to everyone… you have to be genetically predisposed for this reaction to take place. Same with biotoxin illness.

That’s why not everyone who is exposed to histamine-rich foods, biotoxins, or glutens and lectins develops issues.

Disease is usually a combination of genetics + environment.

Likewise, not everyone with the susceptible gene variants will experience autoimmunity or biotoxin illness… you need the environmental trigger.

As Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, the leading biotoxin illness researcher and clinician, says: “Your genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger”.

Gluten-containing foods include:

Pasta

Noodles

Breads

Crackers

Baked goods

Cereal

Granola

Breaded foods

High-lectin foods include:

Beans

Peanuts

Squash

Nightshade veggies (eggplant, peppers, potatoes, etc.)

Grains

Many fruits

seeds

Symptoms of lectin sensitivity are similar to gluten sensitivity and include:

Gas

Bloating

Diarrhea

Constipation

Reflux

Rashes (esp. psoriasis)

Dry skin

Swollen and inflamed joints

Water retention

Headaches

Fatigue

Weight-gain

Inability to lose weight

Depression*

So… that’s kind of a big deal.

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder, and where there’s one autoimmune disorder, there are usually more. According to one study, at least 25% of people with one autoimmune disorder will develop at least one additional autoimmune disorder14.

I used to have guttate psoriasis, lupus, and Reynaud’s Phenomenon (that one’s really not as cool as it sounds).

Ask yourself…

“Do I have any of these symptoms?”

“Do I eat any of these foods on a daily basis?”

Ok, there you go.

I reversed my autoimmune disorder by avoiding high-lectin, high-histamine foods and biotoxins, such as mold.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I get exposed to any of those three things for a long period of time, my health problems return.

As I become more and more resilient, it takes longer time in exposure for my symptoms return.

However, if you’re susceptible, and you expose your body to gluten, lectins, or biotoxins long-term your body will start the immune reaction.

This is partly why food sensitivity testing is not helpful

If the lining of your gut becomes permeable, you become sensitive to whatever foods you eat regularly, because those are the proteins your body has a chance to target.

Therefore, you can find elevations of antibodies specific to those foods, but eliminating the foods your sensitive to becomes a moving target.

Eliminating high-lectin and gluten foods (as well as high-histamine foods and exposure to mold) should be the target of your efforts.

Not forever, necessarily, but for long enough to let your gut repair itself.

At least 3 months.

If you can find a way to test lipopolysaccharide in the blood, that is the best blood test to determine if you have gut permeability, and food sensitivities.

That’s all you need to know- whether your lipopolysaccharide is elevated.

The only problem is that Labcorp doesn’t run this test and I don’t know who does.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an endotoxin(like a biotoxin, but it’s something produced within your own body) if it makes it into your bloodstream from your digestive tract.

It’s what causes the inflammation found in people with small intestinal bacteria overgrowth(SIBO), other infections, and leaky gut.

It causes an increase of inflammatory cytokines (AKA inflammation), which has been linked to all kinds of disease, including depression.

In fact, in a 2010 study, researchers injected mice with LPS to study the immune-brain pathway as it relates to symptoms of depression.

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Welcome!

My name is Elizabeth Abney Clark, or you may know me as Experimental Betty.
I am a self-healing expert, published scientific author, and founder of the Self-Healers for Life learning platform. On my blog, I share biohacking tips, recipes, new research, plus my personal journey from being sick, tired, and seriously struggling to feeling amazing every single day.